The Indian oil tanker, Desh Shanti , was detained for inspection at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, following allegations of having caused marine pollution. The episode may remain a sore point in Indo-Iranian trade relations, at least in the short term.

The vessel, owned by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), was intercepted by Iranian naval authorities while it was on its way back to India after loading crude from Iraq for the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

They apparently acted on reports that the tanker discharged “oily ballast water” on the Iranian coast, a charge the government-owned SCI denied.

International maritime conventions prohibit ships from discharging ballast water which is carried to maintain their balance when sailing without cargo, into coastal waters.

According to Iran’s Fars News Agency , the Bahrain-based Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Centre held the SCI ship responsible for causing a 16-km-long oil stain off Iran’s Lavan Island.

No evidence

The SCI said the report was baseless, explaining that its ship was sailing several nautical miles away from Iranian waters where the oil stain was reportedly seen. There is no evidence to support the allegation that the vessel spilled oil or that an oil leak from it caused the stain. In fact, the vessel was empty when it was going to Iraq for loading, the SCI said.

The Iranians refused to accept the explanation and decided to detain the vessel. Matters reached a head and the SCI was forced to use diplomatic channels to get the ship released.

Significantly, the very same SCI, India’s largest shipping line, was a 49 per cent equity partner in an Indo-Iranian shipping venture — Irano Hind — for nearly four decades. The company was operating till recently when it was forced to wind up following the US and EU sanctions on Iran.

The incident baffled many in shipping circles. The Iranian action has raised questions about whether it was just a case of marine pollution or something more?

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are said to have boarded the Indian flag-carrier while it was on international waters and forced it to move to the Iranian port. Normally, if a ship is found guilty of causing pollution in a country’s coastal waters, the coast guard or the port state control authorities issue notices to the vessel and initiate procedures to detain it if necessary.

Here, the ship with its cargo — both belong to companies owned by the government of a country with which Iran had friendly relations — was forced to move to Iranian waters.

“This is an extremely unfortunate incident,” said a former senior official of SCI.

Pressure tactics?

The immediate inference one can draw is that these are pressure tactics by Teheran, peeved by India’s increasing crude imports from Iraq. India was forced to cut its intake of crude from Iran — its second highest supplier till two years ago — following the sanctions on Iran by the US and the European Union. Iraq, which supplied 24 million tonnes of crude last fiscal, replaced Iran as a major source of crude for India. This apart, India had to wind up its decades-old shipping joint venture with Iran following the sanctions. These were not happy developments for Iran.

Iran has termed the incident a technical and non-political issue and has said it would be sorted out by the shipping and maritime authorities of the two countries. But India appears to taken a more serious view of the matter, with New Delhi having quickly got into action.

For the Shipping Ministry, which has been sympathising with the Iranian shipping trade in the wake of the sanctions, Teheran’s action was quite unexpected. It has since been studying the position in Gulf waters of all vessels flying the Indian flag.According to a shipping expert, it appears the SCI may have to prove that its vessel has not caused pollution.

Normally, in such an incident, international classification societies are called upon for third party inspection of the vessel. But that is ruled out in this case because of the sanctions.

So, Iran may depend on its designated inspection agency. If the vessel is found guilty, which is unlikely going by the shipping line’s stand, the SCI would have to clean the oil slick or pay for the cost of doing so, he said.

Diplomatic setback

Many in shipping circles believe the incident could set back Indo-Iranian economic and trade relations. Both countries were trying to maintain ties, despite the sanctions constraints. Though New Delhi was forced to cut crude imports, it was still buying from Iran.

Recently, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid took a team to Iran to explore ways to strengthen bilateral economic relations. Apart from discussions on tie-ups in the energy sector, a major decision taken during the visit was that India would invest $100 million to develop Chahabahar port. Two government-owned ports are planning to take up this project.

Again, in what is seen as a crucial decision, India continues to allow Iranian vessels to call at its ports without insurance cover from the international group of P& I insurers. This means that if an Iranian ship causes oil pollution or any other damage to India’s coastal waters, India’s only recourse is to approach Iran’s insurers.

With the governments of both countries having now stepped in, it is expected that the SCI issue may be resolved soon.

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